המשי עדין יותר מהפשתן.

In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense. So המשי עדין יותר מהפשתן literally looks like the silk more delicate than the linen, but it means The silk is more delicate than linen.

If you move to the past or future, Hebrew does use a form of to be:

• המשי היה עדין יותר מהפשתן = The silk was more delicate than the linen
• המשי יהיה עדין יותר מהפשתן = The silk will be more delicate than the linen

The comparison is built with יותר = more and מ־ = than.

So the pattern is:

• עדין יותר = more delicate
• מהפשתן = than the linen

A useful model is:

X + adjective + יותר + מ־Y

as in:

• המשי עדין יותר מהפשתן

מהפשתן is made of two parts:

• מ־ = from / than
• הפשתן = the linen

So:

• מ + הפשתן = מהפשתן

In comparisons, מ־ usually means than, not from.

Also, this מה is not the question word מה meaning what. It just happens to look similar in writing because the preposition מ־ is attached to the next word.

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• המשי = the silk
• הפשתן = the linen

But Hebrew often uses the definite article for general categories or materials where English often uses no article. So this sentence can still mean a general statement about silk and linen as materials, not necessarily one specific piece of silk and one specific piece of linen.

Adjectives do usually come after the noun when they directly describe it:

• המשי העדין = the delicate silk

But in your sentence, עדין is not just modifying the noun inside a noun phrase. It is part of the statement being made about the subject:

• המשי עדין יותר מהפשתן = The silk is more delicate than the linen

So here עדין יותר functions like a predicate adjective: it tells you something about המשי.

Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.

Here, משי is masculine singular, so the adjective is also masculine singular:

• עדין = masculine singular

Other forms would be:

• עדינה = feminine singular
• עדינים = masculine plural
• עדינות = feminine plural

So if the noun were feminine, the adjective would have to change.

No. These are two different words:

• עדין = delicate / fine / gentle
• עדיין = still / yet

They are easy to confuse because they look similar, but they are different in both meaning and pronunciation.

In your sentence, עדין is definitely the adjective delicate.

Yes, you may hear both word orders.

The sentence you have uses:

• עדין יותר

which is a very natural way to say more delicate.

You may also encounter:

• יותר עדין

In either case, the important thing for learners is to recognize יותר as the comparative marker more.

Yes, but in ordinary present-tense Hebrew, הוא is usually not necessary here.

So:

• המשי עדין יותר מהפשתן = the normal, natural version

Adding הוא can sound more emphatic or more formal in some contexts, but learners should first get used to the version without it.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ha-me-SHI a-DIN yo-TER me-ha-pish-TAN

Approximate word-by-word pronunciation:

• המשי = ha-me-SHI
• עדין = a-DIN
• יותר = yo-TER
• מהפשתן = me-ha-pish-TAN

The stress is mainly on the last syllable of each of these words.